Fans of The Killing – and, in fact, everyone – should rush to see this icy and gripping police-procedural thriller from Germany. It is directed by 33-year-old Swiss film-maker Baran bo Odar, making his feature debut, and based on a 2007 novel by Jan Costin Wagner. Burghart Klaußner (from Haneke's The White Ribbon) plays Krischan Mittich, a careworn detective about to retire after 44 tough years. He is haunted by an unsolved case: in 1986, an 11-year-old girl was abducted while riding her bike in a remote field, then raped and murdered. Her body was later found in a lake, and the culprit never caught. On the day of Mittich's retirement, and on the exact anniversary of the girl's disappearance, another girl on a bike is taken on the very same spot. Old wounds are reopened, and Mittich (in any case agonised with other personal problems) realises that there is no rest for him until he has nailed this horrifying case. Terrifically acted by an ensemble cast, this film twists its knife relentlessly in the wound. The atmosphere – weirdly chilling in the high summer of southern Germany – is oppressive. It's the worst of cliches … but I was on the edge of my seat until the very last.